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Six years after the Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins medical system took over All Children’s Heart Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with a promise to turn the heart surgery unit into one of the best in the nation, a string of children who died at a “stunning” rate is proof that promise has not been met. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the mortality rate has tripled since 2015.
A multi-year investigation into All Children’s Heart Institute highlights a disregard for safety by the hospital administration resulting in the deaths and life-altering injuries for young patients. Complaints about safety were ignored and parents and guardians were not made aware of the problems. The investigation also found that “surgeons made serious mistakes, and their procedures went wrong in unusual ways.”
All Children’s said it stopped all pediatric heart surgeries in October.